Warming Up and the Preparation Phase for Sport

This question from a subscriber broufht some great insight from Dr Siff on prpearation for physical activity; Another way to warm up without expending so much energy is to move each
major joint (shoulder, hip,knee, ankle, wrist, elbow) through its associated
movements. The hip can flex, extend, abduct, adduct, hyperextend, rotate
internally and externally. If you try this with one side and compare it with
the other, the moved side will feel warmer.

The motions warm up the synovial fluid in the joint…warm fluid has more
volume than cold fluid, thus giving the joint more cushioning and easier
range of motion.

*The extremely low viscosity of synovial fluid and relatively low
velocities of movement involved in warming up movements over a few minutes
will not produce any sufficient increase in fluid volume to increase the
cushioning capabilities of the synovial fluid. Moreover, the tissues
containing the synovial fluid will bulge to counter any small effects that
might occur.

Another issue is that any warming up will also increase the temperature of
the soft tissues surrounding and investing the joint, so that they will
become more extensible and will further diminish the value of any increase in
synovial volume which may take place.

The warming effect from exercise related increases in metabolic rate will be
far larger than that produced by gentle movements of the joints.
Interestingly, research has shown that intense iosmetric contractions of
muscle can also significantly increase the temperature of the muscle complex,
so that dynamic movement is not necessarily the only way of wwarming up the
tissues. One could equally well warm up by doing strong isometric or
quasi-isometric contractions at a few well-chosen joint angles in different
directions in free space.

PRE-ACTION PREPARATION

Of course, we do have to consider the neural components of warming up, as
well, so it would be a bit simplistic to choose one limited method of
“pre-action preparation” (I prefer a term like that to “warming up”, because
“warming up” activities involve more than mere temperature raising of the
soft tissues. In some respects, the term “warming up” is an unfortunate,
misleading and simplistic one, because it has led far too many coaches and
athletes to think in terms of the pre-exercise phase as one whose role is
simply to “warm up” the tissues.

Among other tasks, the “pre-action preparatory phase” (PPP) is there to warm
up tissues and to “prime” the nervous system. We are doing the PPP a grave
disservice to think of it only as a “warming up” phase. In the case of
animals stalking their prey or escaping predators, the neural aspect is of far
greater importance and it is high time that athletes were also made more
aware of this vital aspect of the PPP before a given event.
Dr Mel Siff
Author of Supertraining
Author of Facts and Fallacies of Fitness
www.drmelsiff.com